Process and apparatus for briquetting



1,614,095 Jan. 11 1927- E. B. A. ZWOYER PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR BRIQUETTING Filed June 6, L925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR mums 1 ziMRn/B. ,4. Z Worm ,4 TTOR/VEVS a 11 1927 E. B. A. ZWOYER PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR BRIQUETTING Filed-June 6, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR EL/Jim? b. ,4. Zia/arm A TTOR/V E V8 Patented Jan. 11, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1 11,614,095 PATENT oF'nca- ELLSWORTE B. A. ZWOYER, OF PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR To THE GEN- ERAL FUEL BRIQUETTE conrom'rron, new 2031:.

0! NEW YORK. N. Y., A CORPORATION OI PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR IBRIQUET'IING.

Application 'filed m. a,

This invention relates to the agglomerating or compacting of loose materials such as coal dust, flue dust, or the like, into briquettes and has for its principal object to improve upon the methods and apparatus heretofore employed for this purpose whereby greater uniformity in the treat ment of the material is obtained and the quality of the resultant product is improved.

In the briquetting of loose material, it is customary to employ a liquid reagent or hinder which is mixed with the loose material before subjecting the material to the briquetting pressure. Heretofore it has been the practice to employ a pump for with drawing the liquid binder from storage tanks and delivering it to be mixed with the loose material, the flow of the liquid being controlled by a manually operated valve provided in the delivery line of the pump. This practice is not entirely? satisfactory because ofthe difliculty in uniformly regulating the flow by a hand valve. This difiiculty is further increased by the back pressures built up, especially when gummy substances are employed as binders and when the valve is throttled. As these back pres-' sures cause variations of the flow which can not be readily detected either by observation of the stream delivered by the pump or by the appearance of the briquettes, the briquettes produced are sometimes of inferior quality,

As a matter of practical importance, smaller departures from the proper predetermined amount of binder fed are more objectionable than largenvariations, because the larger variations are much more readily detected. For example, assuming that the binder should form 6% of the body of a given briquette, if the flow of the binder is reduced so that only 3% is delivered this variation could be immediately discovered because it would be impossible with such a small proportion of binder. for the briquetting press to effect the compactmg of the material into briquettes of the proper consistency. If, however, the flow is re duced to say 5% the material may be compacted into briquettes, the appearance of which would be practically the same as if they contained the proper amount of binder but which would be of inferior quality. The inferiority of these briquettes vwould ordi- 1925. Serial No. 85,496.

narily not be discovered until they had arrived at their destination and had been put in service.

In accordance with the present invention, I pump a much larger quantity of binder than required, from which the desired amount is drawn off for delivery to the mixing apparatus, the excess being bypassed and re circulated through the pump. In this way, the building'up at back pressures is reduced to a minimum and a. more uniform and reliable flow is obtained. My invention also includes the provision of means connected with the pumping system for recording the rate of flow, so as to enable any variation to be immediately detected and proper adjustments in the valve setting to be made,

In the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof I wherein two constructional forms of apparatus are shown, Fig. 1 is a. perspective view of an apparatus, embodying the principles of my invention, and in which a manually controlled valve is employed; Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing somewhat diagrammatically an apparatus which includes an automatically controlled valve, and Fig, 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional detail of the automatic valve shown in Fig. 2. I

'Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the v numeral 10 indicates a pipe or conduit which leads to the storage tank (not shown) for the binder liquid, and which pipe is connected with the suction side of a pump 11." Connected to the delivery pipe 12 of the pump 11 is a T-coupling 13 to one branch of which is connected a by-pass conduit 14 which leads back to the suction conduit 10. Interposed in conduit 14 is a manually con trolled valve 15, which in order to secure fine adjustments thereof, may be operated by a worm gearing 16 and hand wheel 17, or other equivalent means.

Means are provided for recording the rate of flow of the binder liquid to the mixing apparatus andsuch means may consist of a liquid fiow indicating meter 18 of any suitable construction, connected to the delivery or pressure side of. the pump 11; the liquid passing throu h said meter being delivered through the pipe 19 to the mixing apparatus (not shown). Secured upon the shaft of the meter 18 is aspur gear 20 meshing with a gear 21, fastened to the armature of a small electric generator 22. The current generated by said generator is used to operate a tachometer 23 shown as supported upon a rod 24 secured to the pump casing, but which may be located in any convenient place. In the installation illustrated, a recordinginstrument 25 is also included for recording the amount of binder used and the number of briquettes made; said instru- 'ment preferably being located in the ofiice eter 23, the operator can determine instantly when variations in such flow occur and will adjust the valve 15 as required. In the form shown in Fig. 2 the binder is drawn from the binder supply through the pipe 10 by the pump 11' which delivers it by the pipes 12*, and 12, through the meter 18 to the main delivery pipe 19. The meter 18 as also shown in Fig. 1, drives a small generator 22 for operating the tachometer 23. Pipe 12 has also connected thereto a branch 12 which connects through an automatic valve A and a conduit 14? to the suction side of the pump 11 for by-passing the excess binder back through the pump.

A suitable construction for the automatic valve is shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing and consists of a central cylindrical casing 30 havin the ends thereof flanged and being provi ed intermediate to said ends with the interiorly threaded bosses 31 and 32, to which the pipes 12 and 14 respectively are connected. Diaphragms 33 and 34 are clamped to the flanged ends of the casing 30 by the heads 35 and 36, said diaphragms being providedat their centers with the recessed bosses 33 and 34' respectively. A two-seated valve 37 is slidably mounted within a central cylindrical web 38, preferably cast integral with the valve casing 30, said web being provided with a pair of valve seats 39 upon which the seats 40 of the valve are adapted to engage. The valve 37 has a central rod 41, the ends of which project beyond the seats 40 and are seated within the recessed bosses 33 and 34%.. The valve easingheads 35 and 36 are pro vided with hollow bosses 42, 43 respectively, arranged in axial alignment. The boss 43 of the lower head 36 is interiorly threaded for the connection thereto of a pipe 44 which leads to the delivery pipe 12 for permitting the pressure of the liquid delivered by the pump to be exerted upon the lower diaphragm 34. The hollow boss 42 of the upper head has slidably mounted therein a rod 42, the lower end of which terminates in a circular flange 45 which rests upon the diaphragm 33. The upper end of said rod is pointed to engage within a recess provided in a balancing beam 46; one end of said beam being pivotally mounted, as at 47, in a bracket 48, preferably formed integrally with the casing head 35, and the other end of said beam having adjustably secured thereto arod 49 upon which a plurality of weights 50 are detachably mounted.

In order to overcome pressure differences in the pipe 12 caused by variations in the head of liquid in the storage tank, or b obstructions, due to clogging of the liquid in the delivery pipe, and also to compensate for pressures above atmospheric in the suction pipe 10 of the pump, such as would be caused by having the storage tanks located at a higher level than the pump, I provide a pressure equalizing device which, as shown, may consist of a conduit 51 connected to the pipe 14 and leading to the main delivery pipe 19; said conduit at its connection with the pipe 19, is provided with an equalizing diaphragm or piston valve 52.

The operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is as follows: The binder liquid is withdrawn from the storage tanks through the pipe 10 and delivered by the pump 11 to the pipe 12". The pump is preferably driven at a constant speed and is adapted to pump a greater supply of binder than required. The pressure of the liquid in the pipe 12, is communicated through the pipe '44 to the lower diaphragm 34 of the auto- .matic valve A, and if such pressure represents the flow of a greater quantity of liquid than required, as determined by the adjustment of the weights 50 upon the beam 46, the automatic valve will be opened to an amount commensurate with the diflere nce between the downward pressure exerted u'pon the upper diaphragm 33 by the weighted beam, and the upward pressure upon the lower diaphragm 34 communicated thereto through the column of liquid within the pipe 44. The excess binder will then be bypassed through the automatic valve and pipe 14* to the suction side of the pump, while the required amount of binder as determined by the setting of the weighted beam will pass through the liquid meter-to the main delivery pipe 19; the quantity of binder passing through such meter being recorded by the tachometer 23 which is preferably calibrated in gallons per hour and is provided wit-h indicia to show the rate of flow and to register the total number of gallons which pass through the meter. If the storage tanks are located at a higher level than the pump,

which is freguently the case, it is obvious that the bin er liquid will be delivered to 5 the pump under a pressure caused by the head of liquid within the pipe 10 and the storagetanks, consequently the pressure of the liquid within the pipe 12 will be correspondingly increased This increase of pressure obviously will vary as the head is increased or decreased respectively by the addition and withdrawal of liquid from the storage tank. Therefore I provide the'equalizing valve 50 hereinbefore referred to. If the head of the liquidvis suchjthat the pres sure of the liquid passingto the suction side of the pump is, for example, equal to 20 pounds per sq. in., it is obvious, that unless some means were provided to compensate for this pressure, the proper amount of liquid would not be by-passed through the auto matic valve and pipe 14; because the flow of such liquid would be resisted by the 20 pounds pressure existing in the suction line. By connecting the pipe 51 to the pipe 14 leading to the suction line and providing the eualizing valve 50, it will be seen that a t rottling of the liquid passing through the main pipe 19will occur; which throttling will be proportional to the movement of the equalizing valve so that a back pressure is "produced in the column of liquid passing through the liquid meter, equal to the back pressure which tends to resist the passage of the excess liquid by-passed through the automatic valve. Conversely, if an obstruc-v tion to the flow through the main line occurs, the resulting increase of pressure will be communicated through the equalizing valve to the by-pass line. Consequently, when the weighted beam 46 is adjusted to secure the flow of the required quantity of binder to the main line, the operation of the automatic valve will be unaffected by any pressure differences except those due to variations in the rate of flow.

It will be understood that many changes,

variations and modifications of e the constructional examples herein disclosed may be resorted to without departingvfrom the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In the art of briquetting loose materials by employing a liquid binder in which such binder is withdrawn from a storage tank and delivered to a-mixing apparatus to be mixed with said loose material, the

steps which consist in Withdrawing a larger amount of-binder than is to be mixed with said loose material, regulating the amount of binder delivered to the mixing apparatus to secure the delivery of a uniform constant flow thereof according to the desired proportion of such binder to be mixed with said loose material, and diverting the excess binder through a by-pass conduit.

" 2, In the art of briquetting loose material by employing a liquid binder, the step which consists in securing a uniform constant rate of feed of the liquid binder in accordance with a predetermined proportion of such binder to the loose material, characterized by pumping from the binder supply a greater amount of binder than required to maintain said predetermined proportion, delivering the. proper amount of binder to be mixed with the loose material and by-passing the excess binder from the delivery to the suction side of the pump.

3. In an apparatus for the briquetting of loose material, by the use of a liquid binder which is withdrawn from a supply thereof and delivered to the place of use, a pump constructed and arranged to deliver a greater amount of said binder than required, suction and delivery conduits connected to said pump. and means to insure a constant, uniform delivery of said binder to the place of use, said means comprising a' by-pass conduit through which the excess binder is circulated, connecting said suction and delivery conduits, an automatic valve for controlling the amount of binder passing through said by-pass conduit and fluid pressure actuate means to cause said valve to be operated in ac ordance with variations in the pressure within said delivery conduit.

4. In an apparatus for the briquetting of loose material, by the use of a liquid binder which is withdrawn from a supply thereof and delivered to the place of use, a pump constructed and arranged to deliver a greater amount of said binder than required,suction and delivery conduits connectedto said pump. and means to insure a constant, uniform delivery of said binder to the place of use said means comprising a by-pass conduit through which the excess binder is circulated connecting said suction and delivery conduits, an automatic valve for controlling the amount of binder passing through said by-pass conduit, fl'uid pressure actuated means to cause said valve to be operated in accordance with variations in the pressure within said delivery conduit, an equalizing valve and connect'ions therefrom to said suction and delivery conduits for preventing difi'erences in pressure in said suction and delivery conduits due to liquid head or obstructions from affecting the operation of said automatic valve.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

' ELLSWORTH B. A. ZWOYER. 

